‘Frozen’ fells latest from ‘Paranormal Activity’ franchise

It might be time for the guys behind Paranormal Activity to switch off the camera and call it a day. The Marked Ones, the fifth installment in the found-footage horror series, had the franchise’s softest opening this past Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The weekend’s only new release grossed $18.2 million, which is over $10 million less than its predecessor, Paranormal Activity 4 (itself a disappointment when compared with its predecessor, Paranormal Activity 3, and that film’s $52.7 million opening). With a low Cinemascore rating of a “C-,” The Marked Ones isn’t expected to remain in theatres for long and will most likely top out at around $35 million. Luckily for Paramount, however, the film cost just $5 million to make.  Even with a weak box-office performance, the movie should still turn a small profit.

There’s nothing small about the kind of numbers Disney’s Frozen continues to pull in. Once again, the princess musical earned the weekend’s highest gross. Frozen is the first movie since Avatar to take the No. 1 slot its sixth weekend in theatres. It raked in $20.7 million domestically and officially crossed the $600 million mark internationally. But how does the movie’s theatrical endurance compare with other, past offerings from The Mouse House? It is now Disney Animation Studio’s second most successful film of all time, just behind The Lion King, and the fourth most successful original animated film. In other words, like its two female leads, Frozen holds its own.

 

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug failed to hold onto its standing as one of the weekend’s top two earners. The second Lord of the Rings prequel grossed $16.3 million to clock in at No. 3, just behind Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones. So far, Smaug has taken in almost $229.6 million domestically and over $500 million internationally, boasting a total worldwide cume of $756.6 million.

Surprising several pundits, and to the great dismay of those who believe the film glorifies the excesses of its frat-boy financiers, The Wolf of Wall Street took the No. 4 spot, earning $13.4 million. Wolf’s domestic finances now stand at $63.3 million. If the 3-hour movie continues to reap the benefits of the press attention lavished on its detractors, and if it does manage to pull in a few Oscar nominations, the film is looking at a total gross of $100 million by the time it leaves theatres.

 

One ‘70's-themed ensemble edged out another for the weekend’s No. 5 spot, with American Hustle taking the prize. The David O. Russell dramedy out-grossed Anchorman 2 to earn $13.2 million, bumping its domestic total to a figure just shy of $90 million. Ron Burgundy and his comedic cohorts drew enough viewers to earn $11.1 million. The successful sequel has now earned a (would you expect anything less?) classy $109.2 million.

‘Hobbit’ leads holiday charge, contributes to record b.o.

Five new films may have opened on Christmas day, but it seems audiences preferred to seek out known successes, rather than take a chance on novel fare. The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug won the weekend for the third week in a row with its $29.9 million haul, while Disney’s hit Frozen, now in its fifth week, skated past last weekend’s tough competitor American Hustle as well as Anchorman 2 to earn the second highest gross ($28.8 million). Though Smaug continues to track behind last year’s Hobbit prequel, it nonetheless joins Gravity as the only two films this year to have retained their No. 1 standing for three consecutive weekends. As for Frozen, which has surpassed even the most optimistic expectations, it boasted the third highest  fifth-weekend gross ever, just behind the $30 million Titanic earned its fifth weekend in theatres, and Avatar’s $42.8 million.

Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues chuckled its way to the No. 3 slot with $20.2 million. So far, the comedy has earned $83.7 million domestically. Will Ferrell’s long-gestating sequel should easily surpass the first Anchorman’s $85.7 million cume within the next few days.

In fourth place, David O. Russell’s American Hustle made like stars Amy Adams and Bradley Cooper and danced its way to a cool $19.6 million. The film has so far enjoyed (almost) universal critical acclaim and positive word-of-mouth. More awards nominations seem imminent, which should significantly boost its already impressive $60 million cume. Pundits believe an overall take of $100 million is likely.

The only new release to have landed within the weekend’s Top 5 – and then just barely – was Martin Scorsese’s much hyped The Wolf of Wall Street. The Leonardo DiCaprio-starrer earned $18.5 million, or $34.3 million for the five-day holiday spread. There are those who believe the film’s low Cinemascore rating of a “C” bodes poorly for its continued box office success, predicting a quick flameout within the next week or two. Others, however, think Street’s controversial depiction of stunted adolescence/hubristic debauchery will continue to draw viewers, especially if the rumors prove true and the film earns an Oscar nod or several.

Saving Mr. Banks, which has struggled to find its audience these past few weeks, finally clicked with holiday moviegoers. The true story of how Walt Disney successfully won the film rights to Mary Poppins from persnickety author P.L. Travers earned $14 million, a great uptick of 50%.

Unfortunately, with the exception of The Wolf of Wall Street, the full story of the holiday’s new releases isn’t as uplifting. The Secret Life of Walter Mitty did OK business with its $13 million weekend gross and $25.6 million five-day haul. Those figures are respectable, though they pale in comparison with past Ben Stiller hits Night at the Museum and the Meet the Parents movies. Still, at least Stiller and his collaborators weren’t part of the very, very expensive 47 Ronin, directed by and starring Keanu Reeves, which tanked with $9.9 million ($20.6 million over the five days).  They also had nothing to do with Grudge Match, a flop with $7.3 million ($13.4 million five-day), nor, thankfully, with Justin Bieber’s docu-bomb, Believe ($2 million/$4.3 million). As Mitty himself is well aware, it’s all about perspective.

Even given the aforementioned string of less-than-boffo bows, though, the day’s big news is all about 2013’s box-office success. Final numbers have yet to be tallied, but as of yesterday the domestic box office was just $1.6 million shy of the $10.837 billion record set in 2012. With today and tomorrow still to go, it’s safe to assume 2013 will be another one for the books.

‘Smaug’ smolders at weekend b.o.

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug performed as expected this past Friday, Saturday and Sunday, even with weather conditions that were once again less than conducive to venturing outside. The Lord of the Rings prequel didn’t match the boffo opening of its predecessor, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and that movie’s $84.6 million haul, though it was still the weekend’s top earner by a Middle-earth mile. Journey raked in $73.7 million domestically, which is more or less on target with last Friday’s predictions.  Although its gross also fell short of previous December blockbusters I Am Legend, which opened to $77.2 million, and Avatar ($77 million), Smaug is tracking very strong overseas. In fact, it’s out-performing the first Hobbit territory by territory, having reaped $131.2 from 49 markets.

In second place, Disney’s Frozen continues to skate along as an unqualified success for the Mouse House. The tale of two princesses dipped 32% to earn $22.2 million, upping its domestic gross to $164.4 overall.

Many had expected Tyler Perry’s A Madea Christmas to earn that No. 2 slot, which Frozen continues to keep warm. Unfortunately, this latest outing for Perry’s wisecracking granny was a disappointment, even more so when held against the director’s other films. Madea bowed to $16 million, Perry’s third-lowest opening yet. It's the lowest opening of any film to feature Madea. Yet even with such a soft bow and those poor reviews, Perry/Madea should still have a fairly merry $50 million Christmas on his hands.

Out of the Furnace will have most likely seen its way out of theatres by then. The weekend’s No. 4 earner took in just $2.3 million after free-falling 56% from last week. So far, the film has earned an anemic $9.5 million.

Luckily, the movie’s star, Christian Bale, has another lauded project to distract him. His other, more high-profile film, American Hustle, is just beginning a successful theatrical run. Having opened in six locations, Hustle scored a great $690,000 for a per-theatre average of $115,000. Fellow awards contender Saving Mr. Banks didn’t fare quite as well, though its $421,000 haul from 15 theatres is nothing to turn up a finicky nose at. It’ll likely play better once it opens wide this Friday.

'Gravity's' Box-Office Should Be Out of This World, Make for Tough Competition

Alfonso Cuaron’s acclaimed intergalactic thriller Gravity is poised for a stellar opening weekend,with predictions running as high as a $40 million debut. That would amount to quite a few 3D glasses needing to be recycled. Given its heavy advance buzz (it’s currently trending 98% on Rotten Tomatoes), it seems the film’s plastic pileup is only fated to grow: Boasting a wonderful performance by Sandra Bullock, which has Academy Award pundits seeing Oscar (not to mention a charming turn by George Clooney, in which he plays George-Clooney-acting-charming-in-a-spacesuit), Gravity is already outpacing modern -effects posterchild Avatar in 3D pre-sales, with 91% of advanced tickets reserved for 3D viewings. In other words, expect this star vehicle to snuff the competition.

Looking to give Cuaron’s early Oscar contender a – pardon the phrasing – run for its considerable money, the Justin Timberlake/Ben Affleck vehicle Runner Runner also opens this weekend. Most critics have panned the action/suspense flick about gamblers acting shady, although our Maitland McDonagh is a bit more understanding. “Both Affleck and Timberlake have fought uphill battles to be taken seriously as actors,” she says, citing the difficulty many have encountered when they try to picture JT as the adult version of the boy who once matched denim outfits with Britney Spears, and when they attempt to look beyond Ben Affleck’s extraordinarily gifted face. However, “Runner Runner gives both room to show what they can do,” she concludes.

Parkland, boasting yet another all-star cast with turns by Billy Bob Thornton,
Paul Giamatti, Zac Efron, and Colin Hanks, is being released (in 217 theaters) 50 years and a little over a month to the day JFK was assassinated.  Reviews of the feature, which takes place in the hospital where the president was rushed the afternoon of the shooting, have been mixed to negative. Even given its full talent roster, Parkland's box-office expectations are pretty grim.

More promising is the new feature starring the elder Hanks, Captain Phillips. The thriller based on the real-life captain and his harrowing encounter with a band of Somali pirates will have a sneak preview in 800 locations this Saturday, with a wide release scheduled for the following week.

Traveling to the world of smaller specialty releases, a pair of foreign dramas is slated for an American premiere. The French movie Concussion takes a frank look at a lesbian’s couple sexless marriage – and one partner’s risqué efforts to rebel.


Dramatic in a more over-the-top and epic way is the new Chinese film from director Jia Zhangke, A Touch of Sin, which, with its interconnected stories espousing  a dour view of modern China,  has been called by our Chris Barsanti “a sprawling tragicomedy” that amounts to an “exhilarating expose” on the country’s increasingly troubled state.

Metallica Through the Never will see a wider expansion this weekend, to 650 theaters. The documentary about the popular metal band had a solid opening weekend this past week, grossing$1.07 million from 305 Imax theaters.

In all, the nascent fall season is shaping up to be excitingly varied. However, it remains to be seen whether any of the above will have the popular appeal to match, let alone compete with, the Gravity juggernaut.

The future of 'Avatar,' on and off the screen

By Sarah Sluis

The second Avatar movie isn't set to release for another three years, in Dec. 2014, but there is plenty of news about the blue-tinged Na'vi.

While James Cameron is filming the sequels to Avatar, Disney plans to create Avatar-themed attractions in its Animal Kingdom park Orlando, Florida's, Disney World. It's worth noting that Avatar is a 20th Century Fox property, so Disney must have acquired theme park rights, something it's only ever done before for the non-Disney properties Star Wars and Indiana Jones.

Animal Kingdom is one of the newer parks in Disney World, and many of its attractions are weaker than those in other parks. With a couple exceptions, most of the attractions don't tie in to existing film properties, making Avatar a welcome addition to the park's entertainment options. Perhaps that's why Disney was so eager to integrate Avatar into that park, and not, say, Future Land in the Magic Kingdom. Currently, Animal Kingdom has zoo-like attractions, including a safari and a petting zoo, a show about A Bug's Life, a river rapids ride, some train attractions, features on dinosaurs, and a Mt. Everest coaster. None of the attractions focus on the future, except in a vague environmentalist way.

To predict the success of the Avatar attraction, one need only look to Universal Studios' Wizarding World of Harry Potter. The attraction, which includes replicas of Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade, towns that feature heavily in the series, and a roller coaster ride, opened last year and has boosted attendance in the park astronomically. It seems odd and unfortunate that the attraction opened just a year before the final film--shouldn't they have been able to finish the attraction halfway through the movie series? By starting work before the second and thrid Avatar films have entered production, Disney should be able to open the park in tandem with the final movies' releases.

In related news, James Cameron announced that he plans to film Avatar 2 and 3 at a 60-frame rate, something he first mentioned at this year's CinemaCon. Peter Jackson's The Hobbit will use a 48-frame rate, so Cameron expressed hopes that the ability to project different frame rates will come as a software upgrade, and not by forcing exhibitors to buy new equipment. In fact, his company Lightstorm Entertainment has partnered with Christie to collaborate on research, development, and deployment of the new technology. Cinema owners do not sound as if they will be left in the dark. Between the Avatar theme park and the technological upgrades for which Cameron is advocating, the impact of his multi billion-dollar property continues to flex its strength.

When what plays in Portugal doesn't play in Peoria

By Sarah Sluis

When the Hollywood Foreign Press Association awarded The Tourist multiple Golden Globe nominations, most American journalists cried foul. But the recognition of The Tourist reflects a larger trend in movies: what plays well overseas is different than what plays well at home.

Currently, The Tourist has earned $40 million at home and $37 million abroad--even with release in just a dozen foreign markets. The romantic thriller had stunning visuals, but received thumbs downs for its story--a more acceptable combination for a market watching the movie dubbed or with subtitles. Also popular abroad are big family-friendly blockbusters, but not necessarily the ones getting the best reviews. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader is currently number one in six markets, and the Disney fairy tale Tangled in seven. While Tron: Legacy may have had just one weekend at number one in the U.S., it grabbed the first-place spot in seventeen markets last week. Among these films, Tangled is the only one with an overall positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes (though Legacy comes close with 49% positive).

While the international box office can often turn so-so big-budget productions into profitmakers, it can also give a truly good film an exponential boost. If a foreign films that plays "well" abroad usually earns at least half its total box office from overseas, megahits can go well beyond that number. Avatar earned $760,000,000 in the U.S. alone, but $2,000,000,0000 from markets outside the U.S. (count 'em, those are nine zeros). That means that the U.S. market contributed just 27% of the total earnings for the movie, an astonishingly tiny figure.

Muchhullabaloohas been made about declining DVD/Blu-ray sales impacting studios' calculations of expected revenue. It used to be said that a successful movie would make back its production budget at the box office, then start earning money once all the ancillary revenue streams (cable rights, DVD, etc.) kicked in. But more and more, I see movies that aren't flops fall well short of their production budget at the box office. According to Box Office Mojo, Tangled's earned back just $140 million domestically on a $260 million production budget, Dawn Treader's earned $62 million on a reported $155 million production budget, and Tron: Legacy is only up to $87 million on a $170 million budget. The rule of thumb about domestic box office needing to equal production budget clearly no longer holds. That's where the international box office comes in. Increasing revenue from overseas may help fill in the gap created by declining home movie sales, but at what cost? Great blockbusters like Avatar will be able to reap their profits around the world, but will this formula also bring undue success to B-list big-budget films likeDawn Treader and the mildly disappointing Tron: Legacy? As studios tally up their successes and failure of 2011, the international box office is becoming an even bigger part of the box-office balance sheet.

At last, it's official: 'Avatar' will be a trilogy

By Sarah Sluis

Avatar could be the next Star Wars. The blockbuster success of Avatar led to widespread speculation that there would be a sequel (or two), especially since director James Cameron expressed interest in the idea. Now, after lengthy negotiations, it appears that Cameron will start scripting the next installment in the series early 2011, with production to start later that year and a release date aiming for December 2014. The third installment would be released in December 2015.

I did some Internet digging, and discovered a clue to the second film's plot: it will be set in Pandora's oceans . I had imagined the second film would involve humans trying yet again to mine the land of Pandora, using the same backdrop, but changing the locale makes the premise more intriguing. Perhaps humans do try to go back to Pandora, but choose a more secretive location: the ocean. This would involve the Na'vi and ocean creatures banding together to fight off humans once more. Whatever the conflict, the ocean location means that the second film will have lots more "wow" moments like the floating islands in the first film.

I imagine the sequels will play out something like Star Wars�you can keep adding ice planets (Hoth) and Ewoks to keep the audience entertained, but as the series progresses audiences get a lot more fulfillment from seeing the characters change and from personal revelations. (Darth Vader is my father!?) I think the Avatar sequels present an opportunity to build on such characters and become a satisfying trilogy.

Movie sequels today tend to be derivative, while television allows writers more leeway to create engaging characters that change and, ironically, provide film-level entertainment. Under James Cameron's directing eye and with Jon Landau as a producer, I predict Avatar will be a trilogy with enduring power, with the ability to produce many, many editions of home entertainment "special edition" box sets.

'The Last Exorcism' claims first place, with 'Takers' not far behind

By Sarah Sluis

The belief that horror movies open big was proved yet again this weekend, with The Last Exorcism grabbing the top spot with $21.3 million. The audience was primarily female and over half Latino, which according to Box Office Mojo is the big market for these kinds of supernatural horror movies.

Takers had to settle for second by a margin of just $300,000, finishing at an estimated $21 million even. The contest is close enough that when the actual numbers come in, the first place winner could be reversed. Though the heist movie features virtually an all-male cast, the gender of

audiences was split almost 50/50. The hunk appeal of the stars may have made this an equal draw for both males and females, with a stylish presentation to boot.

The re-release of Avatar was expected to gross in the high single digit millions, but fell short of that, finishing with $4 million in twelfth place. However, since the movie is already out on home video, many die-hard fans probably already saw the film recently, and the idea of seeing an extra 8 1/2 minutes of footage maybe just wasn't that enticing. The re-release gave 20th Century Fox bragging rights, however: It pushed the movie over the $750 million mark domestically.

Elsewhere in the top ten, Twilight spoof Vampires Suck fell 56% to $5.3 million. The horror movie Piranha 3D plummeted 57% to $4.3 million, a fate that The Last Exorcism will probably endure next week. Lottery Ticket, also in its second week, fell from fourth right out of the top ten to eleventh with $4 million.

Titles with more staying power included Inception and The Other Guys, each of which dipped in the 35% range. Male-driven action movie The Expendables had a strong showing in its third weekend, dipping 44%. Eat Pray Love leveled its fall slightly, dropping 42% this week compared to 47% last week. Its reported budget was $60 million, and the film has now grossed just as much.

This Friday, George Clooney stars as an aging spy in The American, while Grindhouse-inspired Machete takes on the un-American illegal immigration policies through the guise of an exploitation movie. A bicoastal romance between Drew Barrymore and Justin Long, Going the Distance, rounds out the bunch.

Obsession: actor Dileep Rao from 'Inception,' 'Avatar'

By Sarah Sluis

How many actors can call Avatar their first film, Drag Me to Hell their second, and Inception their third? On Monday, I linked to an interview with the actor Dileep Rao from New York Magazine, and his name was again drawn to my mind when I saw that Inception grossed $1.6 million from Indian audiences. I Googled a

few more interviews, and was impressed by his intelligence and specificity. He doesn't gush in interviews; he offers specific examples and well-thought-out analyses of both artistic decisions and plot points. Who else uses the words "mental heuristic failure," "anti-narrative structuralism" in one response, while still managing to sound coherent and grounded? (That would be the New York Magazine interview). He also has a scientific background, coming from a family of scientists and himself pursuing a pre-med background before deciding to become an actor (one holding an MFA, of course). I once had a professor who claimed that a scientific background could lead to a successful career as a director, citing director Frank Capra's background as a chemical engineer. The same could be said about James Cameron, whose scientific endeavors span deep-sea exploration and digital film development. Perhaps that's why he cast an unknown, Rao, in the role of a scientist for Avatar. Before Avatar, his most prominent IMDB credit was as a contestant on "Jeopardy" in 2002 (itself a hallmark for intelligence).

While it's tempting to say that Indian moviegoers were drawn to Inception last weekend in part because of its casting of an emigrant, the movie's reputation as a whole probably drew more audiences. In an interview with The Telegraph

in Calcutta, Rao pointed out his lack of experience in the Bollywood genre. "I don't know how much use I would be in

a Bollywood movie. I have a lot of respect for that industry. It's a

bit removed from me now, but if it becomes a reality, you will see me

on screen singing and dancing somewhere."

It sounds like Rao may have many more roles in his future. I would describe him as a more low-key actor

that tends to blend in with his surroundings; a true supporter versus the type of character actor that steals every scene. Though he has no more projects listed as in the works, maybe Rao will turn out to be "that" supporting actor that looks oddly familiar to people--and able to provide some impressive explanations of mind-boggling movies like Inception. I'll leave with this quote from him talking about the ending of Christopher Nolan's movie [spoiler alert]:

"Close your eyes and listen to the sound at the end. I really do think the top wobbles and that it's real. Cobb does go on a journey, because that's what movies are, and I think that's what leads audiences to this kind of speculation. Because of the story he chose to tell, Nolan is also commenting on the nature of stories themselves, all stories, which is why Leo's change can't be evidence that it's all a dream.

"...There's also kind of a beautiful negative symmetry between that leap of faith [when Cobb agrees to take on the job from Saito in exchange for bringing him back home to his family], and Mal begging him to make a similar leap of faith. After he did that with her, and the guilt plagues him, he can't function anymore. He's exploring his memories in a dangerous, unhealthy way, and he's going to let that go by the time the movie's over."

So 3D films make lots of money...but will it last?

By Sarah Sluis

2010 is the year of the 3D deluge. Last year started out small, with an evenly-spaced array of movies like Coraline, Monsters vs. Aliens, and Up. Then there was Avatar, the movie that brought 3D to the masses. Those who hadn't viewed any of the 3D movies in niche genres like animation, horror, or concerts turned out for their first 3D experience en masse. ShoWest this year wasn't even about selling the idea of digital and 3D conversion to exhibitors. The consensus has already been reached, and now everyone's just trying to figure out how to switch over as fast as they can.

This weekend, up to four 3D movies will be in the top ten--and that's with a huge lack of 3D screens, which can't be installed fast enough to keep up with demand. But Clash of the Titans' entrance into the marketplace will be a dilution of the 3D experience that could threaten the model of 3D. Like Alice in Wonderland, another movie I was thoroughly disappointed in, Clash of the Titans went 3D in post-production, which gives the 3D a schlocky look without any of the artistry that comes from incorporating 3D sequences from the beginning. When you start devaluing the 3D experience, people won't be willing to pay for it. I don't mind paying a little extra for 3D, but if people start catching on to the fact that some movies are being released in 3D purely for the $3+ ticket price hike, there will be resistance. Already, I've heard many people in New York comment on the exorbitant prices to see movies in 3D IMAX, where tickets in Manhattan go for $19.50. Usually, complaints come in the form of "I could do X for that..." In New York, people can see live shows for less.

3D ticket prices are also going up. According to Variety, not only have exhibitors recently hiked 3D prices, they have done so unevenly, with AMC supposedly raising prices for Alice in Wonderland "just $3" compared to other 3D movies. I would support varied 3D pricing based on whether or not the movie is authored in 3D, but it's an unusual precedent to set. However, this may be just a limited test. Pricing was consistent across films when I checked AMC prices on Fandango: A non-3D movie like The Last Song went for $12.50, 3D screens showing How to Train Your Dragon and Alice in Wonderland were retailing for $17.50, and the "3D IMAX Experience" of How to Train Your Dragon went for $19.50.

The Wall Street Journal has also commented on the 3D craze, with one astute film historian, Peter Decherney, predicting that 3D films will decrease once film studios figure out how to monetize Internet revenue, just as 3D films in the 1950s disappeared once studios embraced television instead of viewing it as competition. That's the best historically-grounded argument I've heard about the future of 3D to date. While I think the 3D medium is sound and here to stay, it will only be produced as long as audiences are willing to pay for it--and I'm not willing to bet on the whims of American public just yet.

There's still over twenty 3D movies left in the 2010 slate, so there will be plenty of examples to see how 3D hashes out over the remainder of the year.

Predicting the Oscars: Bigelow vs. Cameron

By Sarah Sluis

Right now, the race for the Best Director at the Oscars (this Sunday!) has narrowed down to two front runners: James Cameron and Kathryn Bigelow. Formerly husband and wife, a relationship they refuse to turn into any kind of rivalry, the duo have both won their fair share of awards leading up to the event. Bigelow won the Directors Guild Award (the first woman to do so), an award that has correctly predicted the Oscar win all but six times since 1948. Cameron won the high-profile Golden Globe award for Best Director, but that has correlated only 60% of the time with the Oscar win. Based on that information alone, anyone but Bigelow winning will be an upset.

Even Cameron seems to want Bigelow to win--as long as Avatar gets Best Picture. On both "60 Minutes" (clipped here) and "Charlie Rose" (clipped here), Cameron has rooted for Bigelow in the hopes that the grand prize of Best Picture will go to Avatar and not The Hurt Locker. It's kind of a weird strategy, making him seem magnanimous while at the same time publicly giving up a less valuable award as a way to gun for the big one. While I loved Avatar, I think this commentator gets something right: the story is not original at all. It's well done, but not original. When your movie draws comparisons to Fern Gully: The Last Rainforest, and not just old legends like Pocahontas, that shows that you didn't transcend the age-old story but merely offered another iteration of it. Every movie has a flaw, and this is Avatar's biggest one.

Awards time also leads to lots of potential "firsts." Bigelow would be the first female director to win. Cameron would be the first person to win for back-to-back directing projects. Lee Daniels would be the first black person to win the Best Director award. However, his lack of other prominent "Best Director" awards puts him out of the running. So when it comes to Oscar pool time, here's my recommendation: pick Bigelow for Best Director, and Cameron if you want to go for the dark horse.

'Shutter Island' bests 'Cop Out' and 'The Crazies'

By Sarah Sluis

Despite the arrival of fresh competition, Shutter Island dropped less than 50% in its second weekend to hold onto the top spot for the second week in a row, earning $22.2 million. Director Martin Scorsese and star Leonardo DiCaprio are enjoying some of the best box office they've had in awhile, along with a $75 million cumulative gross.

Cop Out debuted in second with $18.5 million. The Kevin Smith-directed, humorous tale of two misfit cops opened higher than star Bruce Willis' previous movie, September's Surrogates. For Tracy Morgan of "30 Rock," this was his first headlining role. Unfortunately, our critic Ethan Alter found Morgan's "unpredictability," his "comic energy...at odds with the movie he's been cast in...it's hard to escape the feeling that he's been advised to keep himself in check." As a big fan of his character on "30 Rock," I only hope his next feature, the ensemble piece Death at a Funeral, will fix the problem.

Horror movie remake The Crazies had been building slowly in awareness, and ended up just $2 million short of Cop Out with a $16.5 million total. While many horror movies do the biggest business on Friday, this movie, like many others, peaked on Saturday with a 6% bump from Friday. The poor weather on the East Coast, which had largely cleared up by Saturday (at least in the New York area), may account for the unusually large Saturday bumps across the board. Shutter Island went up 55%, Cop Out 29%, and Avatar 114%.

Avatar astounded for yet another week with a minuscule 13% drop and another $14 million. After months of prodding, including one attempt thwarted by a sold-out show, my own parents finally saw the movie and pronounced the film "stunning." My scientist father was in awe of the 3D technology and apparently sat on the edge of his seat the whole time. Their reception matches the general word-of-mouth that exists for the movie, which has had astounding longevity at the box office. With the Academy Awards next Sunday, the movie will likely see another bump two weeks from now, once the awards tally is in.

The Ghost Writer added 39 locations this weekend and came away with a $20,000 per-location gross, which tipped the movie's cumulative gross over the $1 million mark. A 50% plus drop in per-location earnings is about standard for specialty films, and a $10,000 per location gross next week, combined with an expansion, would rack up millions of dollars for the film.

Sony Picture Classics' A Prophet debuted one week ahead of the Academy Awards, where it is nominated for Best Foreign Film. At nine locations, the prison drama brought in $18,800 per-location for a total of $170,000, a number that will increase in weeks ahead, especially if the movie, regarded as a frontrunner for the win, ends up with an Oscar.

This Friday, Alice in Wonderland will make its 3D and IMAX debut along with a decidedly different cop movie, Brooklyn's Finest.

'Dear John' ousts 'Avatar' from top spot

By Sarah Sluis

Dear John opened to an impressive $32.4 million over the Super Bowl weekend. The debut marks the highest opening for a Nicolas Sparks adaptation. His sentimental romances combine the heartland appeal of a movie like The Blind Side with the fangirl interest seen in successes like Twilight. Perception of quality, too, influenced its box office. While critics called out the film for its sentimentality and heavy-handedness, its 30% rating at Rotten Tomatoes means it's not terrible. Last year over Super Bowl weekend, older-skewing and poorly reviewed romantic comedy New in Town opened to only $6.7 million, so watch-ability makes a difference. Provided that the largely female audience isn't worn out by the genre, the high opening bodes well for the The Last Song, a Nicolas Sparks adaptation starting Miley Cyrus that opens March 31st.

Avatar came in about $10 million lower than Dear John, even with nine Oscar nominations singing its praises. However, with a small drop of 24% from last week, this movie is still in for the long haul. As its gross continues to dip below the $23.6 million it earned this week, it will be beaten by other promising films' opening weekends.

From Paris with Love didn't get much action, with just $8.1 million in its opening weekend. The movie did more business Saturday than Friday, indicating a lack of anticipation and an older-skewing audience less likely to join the packs of teenagers in theatres Friday night.

Many of the Oscar-nominated films expanded their runs over the weekend, rising 50-600% from the previous week. With a Best Actor nomination for Jeff Bridges (who I will always love as "The Dude"), Crazy Heart broke into the top ten with a $3.6 million gross that grabbed eighth place. Since the movie is a relative newcomer with just eight weeks in release, it increased just 58%, much smaller than its peers that have been out for several months.

An Education (18 weeks in release) increased 668% from last week to bring in $915,000. The Last Station, which received nominations for Best Actress (Helen Mirren) and Best Supporting Actor (Christopher Plummer), increased 337% to $371,000. Precious tripled the number of theatres in its release for an increase of 104% from last week, $440,000. The Messenger, which also received a Best Supporting Actor nomination (Woody Harrelson), went up 14% for a tiny $20,500 gross. Colin Firth's Best Actor nomination led to a 14% bump for A Single Man, which earned $631,000. The White Ribbon, a nominee for Best Foreign Language Film, rose12%to $132,000.

This weekend, Valentine's Day meets the three-day President's Day weekend, and aptly titled Valentine's Day, kid-actioner Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief, and The Wolfman will all vie for the box-office crown.

Clash of the Tentpoles: 'Avatar,' �Alice,' �Titans' and �Dragon' compete for 3D screens

By Sarah Sluis

Three Oscar-nominated movies this year released in 3D: Best Picture nominees Avatar and Up, and Best Animated Feature nominee Coraline (Up also received a nomination in that category). 3D has arrived not only at the multiplex but the most prestigious awards ceremony in film.

Too bad there aren't enough screens to show these movies in 3D.

Just when distributors and exhibitors finally ironed out an agreement that would allow them to share the cost of digital upgrades, the recession hit. Though the film industry remains in good shape, in part because of the conversions to the higher-priced screens that did happen, production of 3D films exceeds theatrical capacity. Wide releases need thousands of screens, and right now there's only room for one film at a time.

Last year, Coraline had to compete with My Bloody Valentine 3D for early 2009 spots in 3D screens. This year, behemoth Avatar will have to cede to Tim Burton's 3D fantasy Alice in Wonderland. With Avatar still selling out 3D theatres, especially in IMAX, there's talk of extending Avatar's run. According to a New York Times article on the subject, there have been talks to allow Avatar to continue playing for midnight screenings (which presumably would be less popular for the PG-rated Alice) as a compromise.

The crowding doesn't end there. Just this week, Warner Bros. announced it has converted Clash of the Titans, a Greek mythology-inspired action movie, to 3D. That means the movie will step on the toes of How to Train Your Dragon, a (charming!) DreamWorks animation tale. Though the studio changed Clash of the Titans' release date from March 26th to April 2nd, Titatns will now grab some screens from Dragon just a week after the movie releases.

But, wait, there's more! Because of the low cost of converting a 2D film to 3D ($5 million or so), tons of big-budget films have jumped on the bandwagon. The last two Harry Potter movies will definitely be in 3D, as will Cats and Dogs 2. Despite Transformers 3's looming deadline, there are talks of converting the movie to 3D in post-production. What started out with animation studios like Pixar and DreamWorks Animation, who committed to produce all their upcoming films in 3D, has turned into a format almost every genre is rushing to embrace. Get ready to make 3D glasses standard eyewear at the movies.

Academy's expanded Best Picture category rewards 'top 10' films

By Sarah Sluis

When the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced that it was expanding the number of Best Picture nominees from five to ten, most people speculated two things would happen: 1) crowd-pleasing, high-grossing movies would receive nominations. 2) smaller, independent movies would receive nominations. Well, the answers are in: the first thing happened, and the second not so much.

Three of the ten Oscar nominees for Best Picture were in the 2009 box-office top ten. Avatar is currently #1 for 2009, Up is #4, and The Blind Side is #8. If any movie was a long shot for Best Picture, The Blind Side was it. Many critics would have preferred to see Bright Star, a tiny but well-reviewed film, in that spot.

The last time a top ten film was even nominated was at the 76th Academy Awards, when Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (the #1 film of the year) swept the awards in Titanic-like fashion. That means that before this year, five years passed where no movie in the top ten received a Best Picture nomination. If the goal of expanding the number of nominees is to boost ratings and make more average, non-eclectic moviegoers feel the Academy Awards reflect their own "Best Films," it appears the Academy has succeeded.

That's not to say these movies are bad or don't deserve to be nominated. Last year seemed to be a particularly strong one for blockbusters. I'm right there with Avatar and Up. District 9 (#27) was good, but it didn't make my top ten and I don't think it's quite original enough (beyond its opening sequence) to deserve the nomination. But with a heavy-handed look at racism a la Crash, I guess I shouldn't be surprised it was nominated.

On the other hand, movies at the other end of the spectrum haven't entirely been neglected. The Hurt Locker (#130), A Serious Man (#142) and An Education (#144) all received nominations. Last year, the lowest-ranked film was #120 (Frost/Nixon), so not only are these films a bit lower on the list, there are also three of them instead of the expected two you would get when you double the amount of nominees.

Overall, I think the inclusion of ten nominees better reflects the amount of quality movies out there, and does allow for more commercial (to a greater extent) or more specialized (to a lesser extent) films to receive nominations. At least when a so-so movie squeezes in, there are nine, instead of four, other movies there to balance it out.

'Edge of Darkness' no match for 'Avatar'

By Sarah Sluis

Avatar continued its reign over the box office with its seventh week at

number one. The sci-fi crowd-pleaser coasted through the weekend with a mere 14% drop to rack up another $30 million. Just $5 million away from the

domestic all-time record of $600.4 million set by Titanic, Avatar will roll past the

milestone sometime this week. While Titanic is still the winner once the numbers are adjusted for inflation, both movies had remarkably similar trajectories, rising above initial bad press ("those blue creatures look funny, "there's no way it can make back its money") and then breaking record after record.

In second place, with about half the audience of Avatar, Mel Gibson-starring Edge of Darkness opened at $17.1 million, in line with industry expectations. The solid genre film (57% on Rotten Tomatoes) will draw in action and thrill-seeking moviegoers but won't expand much beyond its genre base.

Romantic comedy When in Rome opened on the high side of expectations, with $12 million of coins to count in its fountain. Its romcom cousin, Leap Year, opened a month ago to $9 million. Since both movies ended up with a 20% Rotten Tomatoes rating, When in Rome benefited from stronger marketing and a younger star to draw in young women to the sketched out, immature storyline.

After a so-so opening weekend, Tooth Fairy flexed some staying power with a small 26% drop, adding another $10 million to its under-the-pillow stash. At the opposite end of the spectrum, horror movie Legion fell a hard 61% to $6.8 million.

This Friday, Edge of Darkness and When in Rome will have to tough it out as they deal with fresh competition. From Paris with Love, an action film starring another older male star, John Travolta, will hit theatres to snatch away Edge of Darkness viewers. When in Rome will have to contend with Dear John, a romantic weepie starring Channing Tatum and Amanda Seyfried.

'Avatar' breaks two out of three all-time box-office records

By Sarah Sluis

This week, Avatar became the highest grossing film worldwide, just days after it broke the all-time overseas record. Only the domestic all-time record, held by Titanic, is left to fall. And even this film won't be the end of Avatar mania. Given that Cameron has already mentioned he has mapped out sequels for the movie, it came as little surprise when Slash film revealed that Avatar 2 is in the works, with technical crew members signing three to five-year contracts for the second film.

But what to make of Avatar's success? It has the record, but, to many, it doesn't reach quite the same phenomenon level of Titanic, which prompted magazine covers and excited chatter everywhere I went (perhaps the fact that I was a teen girl when Titanic came out contributes to my perception of the film as huge).

For those trying to contextualize just how big of a deal Avatar is, the all-time domestic box-office grosses, adjusted for inflation, help bring Avatar down from Pandora and back to Earth. On this list, the movie has a higher mountain to climb--it's ranked twenty-seventh. Titanic only made it to number six. Most of the films in the top ten are household names and beloved films among many Americans--Gone With the Wind, Star Wars, The Sound of Music, E.T., Jaws, and The Exorcist.

Part of the reason Avatar was able to break so many records so quickly was due to the added income of 3D and IMAX tickets. With enough people paying a 20-30% premium on tickets, the movie was able rack up more money with fewer ticket sales. It also means that at this point, fewer people have seen the movie than many other record-breakers on the list. That stands to change when Avatar receives another boost at the Oscars. With ten films up for Best Picture, it will be a shock if Avatar's not among them.

Having seen, and loved, Avatar in 3D, I'm still a little turned off when I see the images on a television screen or a still online. The look just doesn't seem right to me. Avatar is a uniquely theatrical movie at a time when fewer and fewer people are actually seeing a movie in theatres. It's just a matter of time before 3D-capable television screens help bridge the gap between theatrical and home entertainment, but in the meantime Avatar brings us back to a time when seeing movies on a big screen with few distractions was a special, impossible-to-replicate experience.

'Avatar' passes 'Legion' and 'Tooth Fairy'

By Sarah Sluis

Avatar grabbed the top spot domestically once again, dipping 16% to gross $36 million. Overseas, it did even better, breaking the record set by Titanic. Its cumulative gross of $1.288 billion abroad bested that of Titanic, which finished at $1.242 billion abroad. Titanic still holds the record for domestic box office and worldwide box office (the sum of domestic and abroad). Domestically, no movie has been number one for six weeks in a row since Titanic. Now, I just want to know what director James Cameron's next project is--will Avatar 2 come to fruition?

Legion opened in second place with $18.2 million, half the gross of Avatar. Demon-angels and creepy grandmas and ice cream men just never get old. Last year, Underworld: Rise of the Lycans, another male-skewing horror/sci-fi mix, opened at $20 million, so the two did roughly similar business.

Tooth Fairy opened two spots lower at number four with $14.5 million, significantly lower than Dwayne Johnson's past two starrers. 2007's The Game Plan, which had a similar set-up that played on Johnson's star persona, opened at $22.9 million. Last year's Race to Witch Mountain opened at $24.4 million. The kid-oriented competition wasn't significant either: The Spy Next Door fell to number ten this week with a $4.7 million gross, and Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel finished its fifth week at the box office in eighth place with $6.5 million. The Rock may be losing his kid base. Good thing his next film, The Other Guys, appears to be an older-skewing comedy.

Extraordinary Measures opened at number seven with $7 million. The Blind Side-esque movie played well in smaller cities and underperformed in big ones, giving distributor CBS Films reason to believe this movie will have strong staying power in less urban areas, where moviegoers often take awhile to catch up with the latest releases.

This Friday romcom When in Rome opens alongside Edge of Darkness, a crime thriller starring Mel Gibson.

MLK weekend rewards 'The Book of Eli,' 'Avatar'

By Sarah Sluis

On Friday night, audiences turned out to see new release The Book of Eli, but by the end of the Martin Luther King holiday weekend, Avatar prevailed once again, earning an estimated $54.6 million over the four-day period.

Avatar enjoyed its fifth week at number one and picked up a couple of significant awards at the Golden Globes on Sunday: Best Picture (Drama) and Best Director for James Cameron. Not so shabby. My own parents tried to catch a matinee of the movie on Monday, but they, like dozens of other people in the lobby, were turned away by a sold-out show--with no more screenings for two and a half hours. They went to the beach rather than catch It's Complicated. Zing.

The Book of Eli, which opened second with an estimated $38 million over the four-day weekend, had a solid $11.6 million opening on Friday and rose to $11.7 million on Saturday before dropping off the next two days to $9 million and $5 million. By comparison, that exceptional beast Avatar did just $10.4 million on Friday, followed by $17, 15, and 11 million the next three days. That kind of rise over a weekend, which can also be seen in its second and fourth weekend, reveals some of the quirks of this long-running (in more than one way) movie. Word-of-mouth usually explains a rise over a movie's opening weekend, but length is a bigger factor here. The 2 hour, 40 minute running time appears to occupy theatres for 3 hours and 30 minutes (once trailers and clean-up is factored in). A 10 o'clock show on a Friday night isn't so appealing when you realize you'll get out at 1 a.m. (past many teenage curfews). The long running time, I suspect, accounts for Avatar's spike on Saturdays and Sundays, when more people attend matinees.

At number three, The Lovely Bones brought in $20 million when it expanded to 2,500 theatres. The showing was much better than I expected, given my disappointment in the literary adaptation, but a quick look reveals that the movie was able to keep its per-screen averages in the five digits during its five-week run in limited release. People, it appears, can be convinced to see the movie, especially given the heavy TV promos I saw (targeted, apparently, to younger women).

Lower down in the top ten, The Spy Next Door debuted at $13 million. The Jackie Chan movie seems like a Karate Kid permutation. I'll hold out for something closer to the real thing. The remake, which stars Jackie Chan and Will Smith's son, Jaden Smith, comes out on June 11th.

Of the films in the rest of the top ten, Up in the Air fell the least, just 7% to $6.6 million. The most-nominated movie at the Golden Globes came away with just one, for screenplay, but continues to charm audiences.

This Friday, horror film Legion will open along with Extraordinary Measures, a heartwarming true story in the tradition of The Blind Side, and The Tooth Fairy, a big-man-in-a-little-fairy-suit comedy.

'Daybreakers,' 'Leap Year' finish behind holiday releases

By Sarah Sluis

Avatar led the pack for the fourth week in a row, posting a gross three times higher than its closest competitor, $48.5 million. Its week-over-week drop totaled just 29%, compared to drops in the in the 35-55% for the rest of the top ten. Its international gross, a few times that of its domestic gross, helped push the film to a wordwide $1.3 billion. It's the international market, not the domestic one, which will give this movie its best chance at beating the $1.8 billion worldwide record of Titanic--also directed by James Cameron.

The three films debuting this weekend cumulatively made less than Avatar. Vampire pic Daybreakers fared the best of the bunch, earning $15 million and the #4 spot.

Below Daybreakers, Amy Adams romance Leap Year finished sixth with $9.1 million. It failed to exceed the gross of its three-week-old competition, It's Complicated. The Nancy Meyers-directed romantic comedy earned another $11 million, bringing its three-week total to $76 million.

Youth in Revolt opened ninth with $7 million. With just 1,873 theatres in its release, the movie made efficient use of its screens, finishing with a per-screen average of $3,700, higher than half the movies in the top ten.

Many of the end-of-the-year specialty releases are expanding through January, posting significant increases in their grosses from week to week. The Young Victoria added 311 theatres for a 476-theatre release. The humanizing look at the budding monarch brought in $1 million, a 23% boost from the previous week. Fox Searchlight's Crazy Heart went from 12 to 33 theatres and earned $460,000.

After shedding theatres for the past two months, The Men Who Stare at Goats added back 120 theatres, boosting its gross 189% to $120,000. The week before, it jumped 30% unexpectedly--perhaps viewers are paying attention to those "For Your Consideration" ads?

The most successful of the films positioned as awards winners, Up in the Air, has grossed $54.7 million so far for Paramount. This week it enjoyed a $7.1 million gross and settled into its fourth week in the top ten. Its timely success at the box office could give it that extra push come awards season.

This Friday, The Spy Next Door (Jackie Chan + children) will compete with dystopic sci-fi tale The Book of Eli, as well as an expansion of The Lovely Bones.